England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff suffered a setback in his recovery from an ankle injury after he was ruled out of Lancashire's one-day match against Leicestershire on Monday.

England coach Peter Moores had been keen for Flintoff to play either in Lancashire's one-day match against Scotland on Sunday, where he didn't take the field, or Monday's fixture as well as Lancashire's forthcoming four-day County Championship match away to Sussex in a bid to prove his fitness ahead of the third Test against the West Indies at his Old Trafford home ground starting on June 7.

But the decision by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Lancashire medical staffs to rule Flintoff out of the one-day matches in the hope he will play in Wednesday's Championship match at Hove appeared to represent something of a blow for the 29-year-old

The all-rounder, who missed the drawn first Test of a four-match series at Lord's and the ongoing second Test at Headingley, suffered discomfort in his left ankle, operated on twice over the last three years, during Lancashire's drawn championship match with Hampshire earlier this month.

Moores has repeatedly made it clear he wants Flintoff, the hero of England's 2005 Ashes winning side, to play as a full-fledged all-rounder, able to contribute his fair share of pace bowling, and not just as a batsman only.